From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
back down third-person singular simple present backs down present participle backing down simple past and past participle backed down
( idiomatic ) aggressive position in a conflict than one previously has or has planned to.
I was about to sue them, but I had to back down .
I was going to sue them, but now I'm going to have to back down .
2013 June 18, Simon Romero , “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders ”, in New York Times , retrieved 21 June 2013 :By the time politicians in several cities backed down on Tuesday and announced that they would cut or consider reducing fares, the demonstrations had already morphed into a more sweeping social protest, with marchers waving banners carrying slogans like “The people have awakened.”
( idiomatic ) back out .to take less aggressive position
Albanian: please add this translation if you can
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Catalan: fer-se enrere fer marxa enrere
Chinese:
Mandarin: 做出 讓步 / 做出 让步 ( zuòchū ràngbù )
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Estonian: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: perääntyä (fi)
French: baisser d’un ton (fr)
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: nachgeben (de) , eine Rückzieher machen ( idiom, coll. ) , zurückrudern (de) ( fig., coll. )
Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
Italian: cedere (it)
Japanese: please add this translation if you can
Latvian: please add this translation if you can
Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
Polish: dać za wygraną (pl) pf dawać za wygraną impf wycofać (pl) pf
Portuguese: recuar (pt) , voltar atrás
Romanian: ceda (ro)
Russian: пойти́ на усту́пки pf ( pojtí na ustúpki ) , пойти́ на попя́тный (ru) pf ( pojtí na popjátnyj ) , дать за́дний ход (ru) pf ( datʹ zádnij xod ) , спасовать (ru) pf ( spasovatʹ )
Slovak: please add this translation if you can
Spanish: recular (es) , echarse atrás
Swedish: ge med (sv) , ge vika (sv)
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
